Happy, Texas, “The town without a frown” is a town of 647 people in Randall and Swisher counties. So, how did it get it’s name? It was named after Happy Draw, a nearby spring-fed stream which was allegedly named by some cowboys who were really happy to find water.
A post office opened near Happy Draw in 1891 by a fellow named Hugh Currie. There was also a stagecoach changing station, but in 1906 the railroad bypassed happy. How could they do that? The tracks were a whole two miles away. What to do? The town had to be moved. The new town of Happy, TX, was laid out along the railway tracks, where it remains today, and the town continued to grow.
You may or may not be familiar with a movie called Happy, Texas from 1999. It wasn’t shot in Happy, although they did make a replica of the Welcome to Happy sign for a scene in the film.
There’s a bit more info on Happy, TX, on The handbook of Texas Online and TexasEscapes.com. I won’t repeat everything they have here. If you like facts & figures from census results, you can read the Happy, TX Wikipedia Page.
I was going to embed part of the movie here, but searching YouTube showed me that they’ve had some pretty fierce tornados near Happy. Here’s one of them:
